Thousands march against abortion in S.F.

SAN FRANCISCO

Anastasia Ustinova and Sabin Russell, Chronicle Staff Writers

Published
4:00 am PST, Sunday, January 20, 2008

Pro-choice supporters, foreground, walked alongside anti- demonstrators participating in the fourth annual Walk for Life march in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008. The anti- event drew several thousand supporters and attracted a smaller group of pro-choice counter demonstrators. The two groups held rallies near the Ferry Building then marched along the waterfront to the Marina Green. less

Pro-choice supporters, foreground, walked alongside anti- demonstrators participating in the fourth annual Walk for Life march in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008. The anti- event drew several ... more

Photo: PAUL CHINN

Photo: PAUL CHINN

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Pro-choice supporters, foreground, walked alongside anti- demonstrators participating in the fourth annual Walk for Life march in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008. The anti- event drew several thousand supporters and attracted a smaller group of pro-choice counter demonstrators. The two groups held rallies near the Ferry Building then marched along the waterfront to the Marina Green. less

Pro-choice supporters, foreground, walked alongside anti- demonstrators participating in the fourth annual Walk for Life march in San Francisco, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2008. The anti- event drew several ... more

Photo: PAUL CHINN

Thousands march against abortion in S.F.

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Thousands of abortion protesters marched along San Francisco's waterfront Saturday, hectored by a smaller band of abortion rights supporters, as both sides marked the impending anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that established those rights 35 years ago.

Although passions ran high in both camps, the event - what is becoming an annual trek by the anti-abortion movement into what they consider the heart of abortion rights territory - was peaceful.

At least 10,000 abortion opponents were bused into the city from all over California, and from outside the state, for a morning rally in Justin Herman Plaza.

The two-mile Walk for Life West Coast was organized to coincide with the forthcoming anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion in the United States.

Mark Bradford, 50, said he flew from Philadelphia to march for his 6-year-old son who has Down syndrome. "Every day I see the joy that my son brings to me and to my family," Bradford said. "It's distressing to me to think that under some circumstances that beautiful life would not be brought into the world."

The event was also promoted as a part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration and featured several black leaders, including Alveda King, a niece of the slain civil rights leader.

"Some women may say that we are trying to take their civil rights," King said. "But I had two abortions and one miscarriage, and I know that the civil right does not belong to me to take a life of another human being."

Another speaker, Gianna Jesse, who was delivered alive during a saline abortion, overcame cerebral palsy to become a marathon runner despite doctors' predictions that she was going to die, she said.

"I bear the mark of someone else's decision," said Jesse, who walks with a limp.

Greg Sprigg of Reno marched with his 14-year-old daughter, Natalie. "She will get a good sense of morality and understand what our culture of death is all about," he said.

The protesters said they wanted no confrontation with the abortion rights activists who spread themselves along the street chanting, "If you don't like abortion, don't have one."

Said Tessa Gallagher, 17, of Menlo Park, an anti-abortion marcher, "I don't think we should be hating each other because of the different opinions."

Tamia Thedford, a young African American woman who came to protest the protest against abortion, said she thought it curious that the overwhelmingly white crowd of abortion opponents was invoking the name of Martin Luther King Jr. "If abortion is criminalized," she said, "I think the majority of women who are going to suffer are African American women and Latinos who don't have the money to travel from state to state to find services."

During the march, the anti-abortion contingent sang hymns and recited prayers while they stared indifferently at their hecklers. Their critics - more than 300 strong - countered with chants and slogans and waved hand-painted posters declaring, "Keep your rosaries off our ovaries!"

In front of Pier 3, Katy Young, a second-year law student at the University of San Francisco, watched the throngs of disciplined abortion opponents filing by. "This is what we are up against. We live in a bubble here. All these people are going to vote Republican," she said. "I kind of feel sorry for them."

Krista Henneman, her schoolmate at the Jesuit school, said she was shocked by all the children marching against abortion with their parents. "Give them five years, and see how many of them are still out there," she said.

As the procession of protesters and their hecklers wound into Fisherman's Wharf, tourists looked up from their Dungeness crab in perplexity. Wilma and Al Anthony, from Vale, a farming town in western Oregon, took the scene in as another only-in-San Francisco novelty. "We come from a very small town. I've never seen anything like this, except on television," Wilma said.